Tactful Cactus wrote:I'm surprised how many people are going for Maybe Im Amazed. I always thought it was very overdone; the ascending piano bit at the beginning, the bombastic orchestra and the mock-soul screaming at the end....c'mon, its so over the top and schmaltzy

Agreed.

Album: Ram

Song: Back Seat of My Car or No Words

GoogaMooga wrote: The further away from home you go, the greater the risk of getting stuck there.

Sure his solo career has been spotty as hell...but he was a Beatle. He freaking wrote "Yesterday", "Hey Jude" and "Here, There and Everywhere." That's the ultimate get out of jail free card.

what a bizarre thing to write when discussing his solo output.

Not at all. McCartney benefits from a deep, deep well of residual good will based on his status as a Beatle. I am as big a fan as anybody, and I probably love his solo work more than the majority of the folks here - and even I know he would not be on this list based on his solo output were it not for the Beatle's lutre. So let's be intellectually honest about it and admit that we simply can never be objective about the guy. Nor should we be. Love is irrational.

It's not bad but it never seemed a standout to me until I started reading how all you guys love it.

Just a theory, but I think that song gained popularity in the wake of the CD reissues of the Beach Boys catalogue. Once the Brian Wilson renaissance kicked into full gear, I think people started to hear that song with different ears.

I could be wrong, but that's when I noticed people starting to single it out.

It's not bad but it never seemed a standout to me until I started reading how all you guys love it.

Just a theory, but I think that song gained popularity in the wake of the CD reissues of the Beach Boys catalogue. Once the Brian Wilson renaissance kicked into full gear, I think people started to hear that song with different ears.

I could be wrong, but that's when I noticed people starting to single it out.

good theory!
here's mine!
people slagged everything about 'Ram' saying it was the Dog's Breakfast until, well into Mccartney's career they began grading it on a curve.

Let me take this opportunity to say how overrated I think Band on the Run is. I like the title track, Bluebird and a few others, but the pastiche stuff seems pointless, and when he starts getting into that "Ho-hey ho" stuff, it reminds me of everything I don't like about Paul.

Jimbo wrote:My point is to save the world from WWIII.

Jimbo wrote:Trump is right. The collusion conspiracy theory has been debunked and you seem to refuse to look at the evidence.

toomanyhatz wrote:Let me take this opportunity to say how overrated I think Band on the Run is. I like the title track, Bluebird and a few others, but the pastiche stuff seems pointless, and when he starts getting into that "Ho-hey ho" stuff, it reminds me of everything I don't like about Paul.

I think it's about time we stopped this 'surprisingly, I find myself agreeing with you' business, hatz! for yet again, erm, I agree. With you. As usual.

toomanyhatz wrote:Let me take this opportunity to say how overrated I think Band on the Run is. I like the title track, Bluebird and a few others, but the pastiche stuff seems pointless, and when he starts getting into that "Ho-hey ho" stuff, it reminds me of everything I don't like about Paul.

I think it's about time we stopped this 'surprisingly, I find myself agreeing with you' business, hatz! for yet again, erm, I agree. With you. As usual.

And I agree with you about Jet. And for that matter, now's as good a time as any to admit I like the Fall sometimes. But let's not turn this into too much of a love fest. Hippie!

Jimbo wrote:My point is to save the world from WWIII.

Jimbo wrote:Trump is right. The collusion conspiracy theory has been debunked and you seem to refuse to look at the evidence.

toomanyhatz wrote:Let me take this opportunity to say how overrated I think Band on the Run is. I like the title track, Bluebird and a few others, but the pastiche stuff seems pointless, and when he starts getting into that "Ho-hey ho" stuff, it reminds me of everything I don't like about Paul.

I think it's about time we stopped this 'surprisingly, I find myself agreeing with you' business, hatz! for yet again, erm, I agree. With you. As usual.

And I agree with you about Jet. And for that matter, now's as good a time as any to admit I like the Fall sometimes. But let's not turn this into too much of a love fest. Hippie!

Davey The Fat Boy wrote:Not at all. McCartney benefits from a deep, deep well of residual good will based on his status as a Beatle. I am as big a fan as anybody, and I probably love his solo work more than the majority of the folks here - and even I know he would not be on this list based on his solo output were it not for the Beatle's lustre. .

By Wings/Solo output alone he still outclasses a fair few of that list.
If, in some paralell universe, we could somehow completely ignore the Beatle bias he would still make the list and if not be a glaring omission.

I can just about handle you driving like a pissed up crackhead and treating women like beanbags but I'm gonna say this once and once only Gene, stay out of Camberwick Green!

Davey The Fat Boy wrote:Not at all. McCartney benefits from a deep, deep well of residual good will based on his status as a Beatle. I am as big a fan as anybody, and I probably love his solo work more than the majority of the folks here - and even I know he would not be on this list based on his solo output were it not for the Beatle's lustre. .

By Wings/Solo output alone he still outclasses a fair few of that list. If, in some paralell universe, we could somehow completely ignore the Beatle bias he would still make the list and if not be a glaring omission.

Well given the nature of the list it is hard to say. There are tons of glaring omissions that outclass other things that made the cut. But being honest, could you truthfully say that his Wings/Solo records on their own would establish him as a superior artist to the likes of Nick Lowe or Harry Nilsson?

Davey The Fat Boy wrote:Not at all. McCartney benefits from a deep, deep well of residual good will based on his status as a Beatle. I am as big a fan as anybody, and I probably love his solo work more than the majority of the folks here - and even I know he would not be on this list based on his solo output were it not for the Beatle's lustre. .

By Wings/Solo output alone he still outclasses a fair few of that list. If, in some paralell universe, we could somehow completely ignore the Beatle bias he would still make the list and if not be a glaring omission.

Well given the nature of the list it is hard to say. There are tons of glaring omissions that outclass other things that made the cut. But being honest, could you truthfully say that his Wings/Solo records on their own would establish him as a superior artist to the likes of Nick Lowe or Harry Nilsson?

Sir John Coan wrote:I really didn't want to say this, but my cheap CD/DVD copy of 'Chaos and Creation...' arrived yesterday, and I can't help feeling it's been just a teeny bit overrated here. It ain't bad, tho', but there might be just four songs I'd play again and again.

There are maybe two songs that would make it on stage.

Does their stage-worthiness really make a difference?

I think so.

A great song can be even better live. If you have the conviction to write and record it, it needs to be played live. I like the album on the whole, but nothing is really that strong on it. Other old songs would muscle these out of the set, no problem. Some of them sound like filler aand have no chance of being played live.

I'm sure that when Paul wrote JET he was dancing on the spot at how good a song he had written. It would have been cracking live, too.

He needs more rockers.

By the way - 'Ballroom Dancing' is the best song on Tug of war for me.

The world was holding its breath waiting for me to post that, obviously......

Sir John Coan wrote:And you seem to have contradicted yourself a bit there, D!

How so?

You 'confessed' to being a huge fan - bigger than most people here (which takes some doing!) and then you ask with seemingly genuine doubt if his oeuvre is so much better than that of Nilsson or Nick Lowe!

Sir John Coan wrote:And you seem to have contradicted yourself a bit there, D!

How so?

You 'confessed' to being a huge fan - bigger than most people here (which takes some doing!) and then you ask with seemingly genuine doubt if his oeuvre is so much better than that of Nilsson or Nick Lowe!

No contradiction. Nilsson is on my personal Mt. Rushmore of great artists. I'd rate him in my top 5 - on many days my top 2 or 3. The comparison is no cut down in my book. Nick Lowe is further down on my list. I do not love his music nearly as much as I love McCartney's - but the Beatle's lustre probably has something to do with it. Being as objective as I possibly can, I don't see McCartney's solo career as being musically too much better. But Lowe didn't write "And I Love Her," so I am far less likely to be forgiving of his weakest material.

12stringbassist wrote:I'm sure that when Paul wrote JET he was dancing on the spot at how good a song he had written. It would have been cracking live, too.

It was - he kind of leans into it if you will, fabulous.

Speaking of rockers, I'm going to big up 'Live and Let Die' as well. Yes its overblown bombast, but possibly the best overblown bombast in the world...

I always thought that line "You've gotta give the other fellow hell.." was funny. It's meant to be this tough,dangerous song and you have this quaint language in there. Mind you, that's probably part of Macca's charm very often. Sometimes he consciously overplays it (his obsession with remaining ordinary accounts for his constant use of colloquialisms in his lyrics) but other times I think he's unaware of it.